Warren Bennis and Robert J. Thomas
I was lucky to work with Warren Bennis just after he published Geeks & Geeezers, as he spent a year visiting Harvard. His thinking on development and aging inspired me profoundly, and I felt lucky our paths overlapped when they did.
The core idea in this book surrounds crucibles of leadership (which is also the name of Chapter 4). Here are fourteen(!) of my most favorite lines: (#1 is the basic definition)
A crucible is the experience of a tough, even harrowing challenge that reorganizes an individual's sense of meaning and can result in the following leadership competencies: adaptive capacity, engaging others by creating shared meaning, voice, integrity.
Crucible is an almost infinitely elastic term that is ultimately defined by the person transformed by it. (Unable to hear my interior monologue, you may not realize that I am struggling at all--from the outside what I perceive as an ordeal may look like a charmed existence). In this sense, the journey that transforms an individual into a leader is always a lonely one.
Crucibles vary in duration (and in anticipated duration), in harshness, and in other ways. But, there are two basic types: the ones you seek, and the ones that find you. There is a world of difference between the two--the difference between jumping into an abyss and being pushed in, between fasting and starving, between emigration and exile.
Flexible, resilient people are not repelled by problems; they pounce on them, determined to find solutions to the puzzle, however painful they may be. Adaptive capacity allows individuals to confront unfamiliar situations with confidence and optimism. ...
the ability to seek out expertise is one of the strengths of almost all [people we studied]. Our geeks tend to be stalkers of first-rate mentors. Our geezers don't hesitate to tap the wisdom of their children and grandchildren.
The crucible is the occasion for real magic, the creation of something more valuable than any alchemist could imagine. In it, the individual is transformed, changed, created anew. He or she grows in ways that change his or her definition of self....The crucible is a dividing line, a turning point, and those who have gone through it feel that they are different from they way they were before.
Success is, first of all, an act of the imagination. Whatever their age, our leaders realized that they were not limited by the roles they had played in the past or the ways they had been defined by parents, teachers or others. Our leaders have never been mired in the "now." Many have long been in the habit of dreaming about what they might do, a habit often acquired early in life. ... which allows/encourages them to widen their repertoire of possible futures.
A crucible is a tipping point where new identities are weighed, where values are examined and strengthened or replaced, and where one's judgement and other abilities are honed. It is an incubator for new insights and a new conception of oneself.
The ability to find meaning and strength in adversity distinguishes leaders from nonleaders. When terrible things happen, less able feel singled out or powerless. Leaders find purpose and resolve. In a crucible, to paraphrase former British PM Margaret Thatcher, iron enters the soul and turns to steel....their ability to organize meaning around a potential crisis turns it into a crucible in which leadership is forged.
It can be a moment when you find your voice, even if you aren't ready to use it yet.
It can be one of those moments of insight, a click in the head that changes everything.
Two attributes treasured most: curiosity and humor. If I were obliged to select only two characteristics, I would forego nobility. I would probably forego courage. If I could only have two, they would be those two, and I value humor very, very, highly.
The transformations that our leaders described when they talked about their crucibles were essentially a process of education. Learning how to learn was one of the most valuable tools they took away from their crucible experience, and it was the all-purpose tools, along with creativity, that they depended on in all their subsequent dealings with people and the world.
Like many leaders, a love of learning can seemingly anesthetize one against fear of failure. One understands that you may not get what you want when you take a risk, but you will always learn something. That view takes the sting out of failure and makes it something worthwhile and meaningful.